Jody Holland Blog

We get so caught up in whether or not people like us, whether or not we are making the right choices, and whether or not we will be loved. We forget the truth often and cling to the illusions. What is an illusion, but a distorted shadow of reality. It is an alternative view of what is scary instead of what is real.

When I was a boy, I was scared of what my mind would project at night sometimes. I was scared of the alternative reality that my imagination would create. The things that I imagined were not real, of course. However, they seemed very real to me. It seemed that there were monsters and demons that were after me. When the light came back on, however, all of the scary stuff disappeared.

The is the same truth for me as an adult. There are so many things that are simply a shadow of the truth and not the truth itself. The shadows are the illusions that tell us that we are not good enough, that people don;t like us, that we have to have approval. The truth is that there is no threat. We are loved. We are good enough. We are designed for greatness. Nothing that is real can be threatened. Nothing that is unreal has ever existed. The truth is that we are not condemned. We are loved.

I am continuously choosing between what is true and what is an illusion in this world. I am choosing between salvation and attack, peace and anger. It is a choice that I shouldn't have to make, but I seem to have to remind myself of what is real versus what is not real. It is in this choice that I either embrace peace in my heart or reject it. It is in knowing that it has always been a choice that I realize that I have suffered unnecessarily in this life.

Mark Twain once said, "I have had thousands of problems in my life; a few of them were actually real." That is how I feel as well when I think about the truth of my own suffering. Much of what I have suffered from was a direct result of me thinking the wrong thoughts. I would look at a situation and allow fear to control my thoughts instead of peace. I would imagine all of the things that could go wrong and none of the things that could go right. I would imagine the bad things that people would think of me instead of the good things that were true about me. I would manufacture my own stresses in order to fit in with a stressed out world.

What if fitting in was never the intent, though? What if I was designed for something more? What if you were designed for something more? What if the stress was your ego's way of keeping you from the peace and the path that was intended for you? I would say that the choice becomes much more clear when we realize that it is a choice. The question that I ask myself is... What would I have to believe in this situation in order to be at peace, or to be happy or to be excited? It is in the answer about our beliefs that we find our thoughts. I focus on the truth of being called to something great when I ask the right question. I focus on the illusion of the world crumbling when I ask the wrong question.

What question will you ask yourself today? Will you ask what you would need to believe to find peace or what you would need to believe to be angry and fearful? The choice is yours today. I would challenge you to focus on the truth that you are already saved and that the answer to your happiness rests inside of you and it always has. What would you have to believe in order to be at peace right now?

Jody Holland

Jody is a writer, motivational speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur. He has been the keynote speaker at over 250 events around the world. Jody speaks more than 150 times per year at different programs, and he has given more than 10,000 speeches during his career.

Jody has written 16 books and has many more to come.

If you are interested in booking Jody for your conference or event, click the Contact Jody Holland button to contact him.